


time

by tigriswolf



Series: comment_fic drabbles [309]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Guilt, M/M, Soulmates, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-01
Updated: 2016-06-02
Packaged: 2018-07-11 16:44:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 975
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7060903
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tigriswolf/pseuds/tigriswolf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Hey, what's the matter, little man?" he hears a soft voice ask, and he looks up, wiping at his eyes (<i>big boys don't cry</i>) and there's a stranger in his room.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Title: time  
> Disclaimer: not my characters  
> Warnings: time travel  
> Pairings: Harry/Louis  
> Rating: PG  
> Wordcount: 475  
> Point of view: third  
> Prompt: Any, any + their past self, "It gets better."

"Hey, what's the matter, little man?" he hears a soft voice ask, and he looks up, wiping at his eyes ( _big boys don't cry_ ) and there's a stranger in his room (but the door is still closed?) and Louis knows he should scream, should shout for Mum—but Mum's been so tired lately, and he knows it's his fault for getting in trouble _all the time_ , and he ruined _another_ of her dates, so if this man is here to punish him, well. 

"Are you here to, to punish me?" he asks, rolling to his feet. Big boys don't hide in corners. 

"No, sweetheart," the man says. He sinks down onto the bed, staring at Louis. "You're, what, five? Six?" 

Louis answers sharply, "'m'five and a _half_." 

"Oh," the man murmurs. "That time, then." He sighs. Louis wants to keep watching his face, because anything that happens shows on the face first, but there's drawings all over the man's arms and he can't help looking at them. He isn't sure how long passes (he really wants to trace the drawings but doesn't dare get closer because he still doesn't know how the man got in his room) before the man says, "It's not your fault. You know that, don't you, Louis?" 

He blinks, glancing up from a really cool compass. "Yes, it is. I'm loud. 'n'ann-anoyin'?" 

For some reason, that makes the man look sad. He looks a lot like Mum when she gets sad. "Oh, sweetheart," the man says. "I promise, none of it's your fault. You won't believe Mum when she tells you that, or Da- or, well anyone. Not for a long time, in fact." He brings a hand up to his chest, over his heart. "Even after you start puttin' it on your skin, you won't believe it." He sighs again. 

"Who are you?" Louis asks. He's probably dreaming, he realizes. How else could someone have gotten in without opening the door? 

The man smiles. "I promise, everything will be wonderful someday. Mum'll be happy. You'll get baby sisters and a baby brother. You'll meet someone so amazin', and you'll do amazin' things." 

Louis really wants to believe him. But he blinks and the man is gone, and when he steps over to the door, there's no sign anyone was ever there. And Mum's still crying down the hall because he chased away the guy she liked, and he's still got that bruise on his knee from fighting that boy at school. 

It's a dream he forgets in the coming months. (And then there's a boy, and a band, and little sisters and a little brother, and a family so happy he can't believe it sometimes. 

And then there's a room he hasn't seen in years, and a little boy crying on the floor, and he thinks, _Oh_.)


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title: time   
> Disclaimer: not my characters   
> Warnings: none   
> Pairings: Harry/Louis   
> Rating: PG  
> Wordcount: 505  
> Point of view: third   
> Prompt: RPF, Louis Tomlinson/Harry Styles, "Would you go back in time if you could?"

"If you could," Louis asks while tangling his fingers in hair that's barely begun to grow back, "would you go back in time?" 

"Well, that depends," Harry says. Lou's been... a little odd, recently. He was fine when they met up before the Grand Prix but in the weeks since then… Harry’s not sure what happened. Niall didn’t notice anything off during their football match but Niall doesn’t know Louis quite as well as Harry does. Maybe his mum but Harry doesn’t know how to ask without causing a panic of some sort, and he hasn’t been able to steal enough time from set for a full investigation. 

But he and Louis have all night, now. Harry isn’t needed on set until late tomorrow afternoon.

“Depends on what?” Louis asks, tugging on an errant curl. His hair has to be kept short but not even that can tame it fully. 

“Can I choose when I go to?” Harry tilts his head back, meeting Louis’ gaze. 

Louis shakes his head, and there’s something sad about the small twist of his lips. “No,” he answers. “And you won’t even know it’s a possibility until you have.” 

“That sounds dangerous,” Harry says. 

Louis shrugs, bringing his other hand up to tap at Harry’s newest tattoo, just over his heart. “What if there’s a single moment,” he asks now, “where everything can change, and you won’t even know for twenty years?” He laughs, leaning over to rest his face against Harry’s shoulder. “It’ll just be something insignificant, a night you’ll forget soon enough, but your entire outlook on life…” He laughs again, breath warm on Harry’s skin. “A man with a kind word when you think you’ve destroyed the world.” 

“Lou,” Harry whispers, bringing his own hand up to cradle the back of Louis’ head. “What’s wrong?” 

“Nothin’, love, I promise,” Louis sighs. “Just...” He laughs a third time, barely a murmur, so softly Harry only knows because he feels it. He presses a gentle kiss to Harry’s shoulder before sitting back up. Their eyes meet, and it’s been a long time since Louis seemed so peaceful. “We’ll be free soon,” he says. “I just got a reminder, that’s all. And everything is worth it.” 

Harry catches the hand in his hair, pulls it to his lips for a kiss. “You’re worth everything,” he says. 

Louis smiles that same bright grin from the toilet, the one that caught and kept Harry’s attention. “And you,” he says. “My own silly boy.” He leans down again to press a kiss to Harry’s nose and then murmurs into Harry’s mouth, “And I have you all night, don’t I, silly Harold?”

“You do,” Harry whispers back. “What do you plan to do with me?” 

“I should taste you, I think,” Louis says, sitting up and patting Harry’s cheek. “Everywhere. Make sure you’re authentic and all.” 

“If you must,” Harry agrees, rolling out of his lap and spreading his arms. “I’m yours for the night.” 

_Forever,_ he means and Louis smiles again.


End file.
